Oh boy! We’ve got signage!

Day three, post SUNYLA conference, and the library is pretty quiet.  I think the rainy weather here in the northeast has really dampened people’s spirits.  I think some have gone back into hibernation until they hear the sun is finally out.  Unfortunately, our recurring leaks don’t want to go away.  We do not yet have windows on the front of the library, still just scaffolding and plastic draped over that. (I wonder what that is doing to our air conditioning bill).  On the up side of that, we have an inordinate amount of flies visiting the library.  Well, really just a few here and there, but they are getting in because of our lack of windows.  Thankfully we haven’t seen any more birds since about two weeks ago.  So, when are the windows coming?  Who knows! 

Anyway, the title of this post refers to signage.  Yes, folks, we are in the process of getting our signage installed.  And it is all really cool.  Basically it is just vinyl-type lettering that is is applied to surfaces (walls, glass, columns, etc.), so nothing to mount onto anything.  They are like big colorforms (if you are old enough to remember those) or rub on decals (again if you are old enough), or iron-on images (if you are old enough to remember them) or temporary tattoos (except they are permanent).  So a big “Alleluia” for the fact that our funding for signage is no longer stuck in Albany, especially since they are being oh so productive these days, and to knowing that our patrons will be a little less confused around here (providing they actually read them).  Although . . . I would like to say, some of it will be out of date very soon (of course people! can’t expect it to all go perfectly!).  I was reading the directory in the front lobby and it places certain things in our lower level, which is where they are now, but we already know that those things will be moved to the main level very shortly.  Hope they can ‘edit’ the signage . . .

Providence, RI looking to tax students

Saw this post on The Kept-Up Academic Librarian today.  I cannot say I agree with this, but it will be interesting to see what happens.  Efforts to tax students at colleges and universities are common.  Here in NY, Albany raised tuition at the SUNYs this year and took away almost all of what they raised the tuition by.  A tax?  Well, not in name . . .  How do all the SUNY students feel about it?  Especially since only the SUNYs were affected, none of the privates or CUNYs had the same tuition hike imposed on them.  The ones that know about it are not happy, but there hasn’t been much publicity.

A good staff meeting? No way!

Yes, I know, it is impossible to have a good staff meeting you say.  Well, not true.  Recently our director has changed the format of our staff meetings to be less about current day-to-day updates (those have been moved to email) and more about what people have been working on, attending, reports on campus committees, etc.  So, yesterday, the four of us who had attended ACRL National in Seattle presented on things we attended, new products we learned of, and the poster that three of us presented.  I believe it was the best attended staff meeting we have had all year!  To start, our director got up to articulate the various reasons why library faculty attend such events: work towards tenure, a way to stay engaged in the profession, a place to get new ideas to bring back and maybe apply locally, etc.  I think he did this in part to address growing concerns about the economy and some staff expressing concerns that maybe funds are being taken away from some things for library faculty to attend conferences.  What his explanation did was clarify why such trips are necessary for tenure-track librarians and why they are good for the library as a whole.  I HOPE, there was some understanding on the part of those staff members.  And I think our presentations helped to clarify the director’s explanation.  A lot of good conversation and questions came up during our presentations and several staff and faculty, who usually say nothing contributed to the conversations.  Bravo, to our director for having us present, bravo to my colleagues (who did most of the presenting), and a big thank you to everyone who attended!  Yes, a good staff meeting.

Book discussion

Remember when I wrote about being assigned to read a book by the Provost called What the Best College Teachers Doby Ken Bain?  Well, we had the book discussion last Thursday (2.19.09) night.  And let me tell you, it was awesome.  We had a nice dinner, including wine, and it was a total of about 18 junior faculty from all different departments having a meaningful discussion about their challenges with teaching.  Initially I was anxious about how many were going to show up.  I thought if it was only me and the moderator we wouldn’t have a very good discussion, but once I got there by anxiety was quickly alleviated.

The discussion began with  a couple deans and my director showing up to say hello and lend their support, but they did not stay.  The Provost spoke for a couple minutes but did not stay, making it clear he did not want to hinder the conversation with his presence.  Then the president came in and said he was staying for dinner and would sit in on the conversation for a while.  This made several people uncomfortable because they didn’t feel they could speak as frankly as they would like, but it didn’t phase me in the least, he never said a word, just listened and I thought that he did that was significant.  As for the conversation . . . . I was just glad to be there and have the opportunity to hear what some of the teaching faculty’s legitimate concerns were:

• taking attendance, yes or no and why or why not
• getting students to do the assigned readings
• crafting meaningful assignments that incorporate the readings in order to get them to do the reading
• student participation in class
• the challenges associated with being a non-male and/or non-white faculty member and how students treat you, how the dynamics change in student/teacher interaction
• the challenges of having to spend so much time mentoring students and not just teaching and doing research
• dealing with and responding to students that treat school like another consumer driven service, for example, what do you say to a student that asks if you can cut down on the assigned readings because there is clearly overlap between some of them?
• addressing the issues associated with meeting the educational needs of students with a typically high failure rate
• the economy, what is going on with deans leaving at this juncture, and are our jobs safe?
• is there a place where we can meet casually on a regular basis, like a faculty lounge?

And these are only the things I can remember, there certainly were many other things brought up.  I tried to put in my two cents near the end but didn’t feel I really had much to contribute, but told them I felt blessed to even have a place at the table and remind them that the library is here to serve them.  I hope to be able to participate, even if it is just listening, in many more conversations like this.  It was very enjoyable and I have a lot to learn from these people.  And my hope is that some day I will have something to contribute.

As for the book . . . the general consensus was that it was good but it pretty much made folks feel like failures as teachers and that they could never measure up to the faculty that were included in the study.  Beyond that the book really wasn’t the focus of the discussion, but it certainly was a good jumping off point.

The only downside was that the whole event reminded me again of the inequality of teaching faculty and library faculty on campuses.  But that, as I have said before, is a topic for another time . . .

Our Reference Meeting Today

We had a Reference meeting today.  I’m not going to give you the play by play, naturally that would be painful for you to read.  But one of our discussions got me thinking about anxiety over approaching a Reference Librarian with questions. 

 We are currently piloting a second reference location adjacent to our main stacks, which is on the floor below the main reference desk.  We started it mid-semester last semester and the librarians that did it (not me) said that in general they got much more in-depth reference questions than at the main desk, which is adjacent to a bank of computers.  One colleague commented that they thought students felt less intimidated about approaching the librarian to ask a question down there.  Is it true?  And what is intimidating about a reference desk?  The formality of it?  The proximity of it to public computers and the chance of being overheard and fearing they will be thought stupid by their peers?  The fear that the librarian will think their question is stupid?  Is the librarian mean or grouchy?  Is the librarian busy with something at that computer and will I be interrupting them?  Well, maybe I answered my own question.  But the location of this pilot seems to be less intimidating to students so far.  We will be continuing the pilot during the Spring semester and I look forward to taking a shift and seeing what it is like.  Bravo to all that have got this pilot up and running!

We also found out that all our new signage we were hoping to get before the semester started, now that our renovation is essentially complete, is stalled because of New York State budget issues.  So, all projects, even ones that were essentially approved have to be reviewed by the NY budget committee before going forward.  So who knows when we will get our signage.  Boo.  But that is the way it is these days with the state of the ecomony and all.

But on a happy note, we now have a color printer for library staff to use!  Huzzah!